UNESCO is launching a project to develop a flood risk mitigation plan for the World Heritage Site of Ayutthaya. The launch event at UNESCO Bangkok on 22 March 2013 was attended by key players of Thailand’s national flood risk reduction efforts and representatives from the embassies of Germany, Japan, Portugal and the United States that have been actively involved in Ayutthaya’s ...

Once again UNESCO will partner with World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for Earth Hour, one of the world's largest and most well-known environmental campaigns in the world. UNESCO has invited World Heritage sites to participate in this initiative by switching off the lights on the night of Earth Hour: Saturday, 23 March 2013, from 8:30 to 9:30pm local time.
The Earth Hour campaign ...

On 1st March 2013, UNESCO signed the Plan of Operation with the Government of Uganda for the project “Technical and financial assistance for the reconstruction of Muzibu-Azaala-Mpanga, architectural masterpiece of the Tombs of Buganda Kings at Kasubi, Uganda, World Heritage property in Danger”, generously supported through the Japanese Funds-in-Trust. Inscribed on the World ...

For more than a year now, I have been expressing on behalf of UNESCO my deep concern about the dramatic humanitarian situation in Syria and the threats to the outstanding cultural heritage of the country, which bear testimony to its history and to its cultural identity. I have called upon all those involved in the conflict to ensure the respect and protection of this heritage.
The tragedy ...

The field testing of the World Heritage Centre’s field guide for climate change adaptation in natural World Heritage sites was launched last Friday in Nairobi.
Managers from Mount Kenya National Park/National Forest and the Kenya Lakes System in the Great Rift Valley and their civil society partners gathered for a two-day introductory workshop on the field guide. The group will now return ...

Managers from 10 World Heritage sites throughout Africa met at the IUCN ESARO regional offices in Nairobi, Kenya to reflect on and learn more about management effectiveness of natural World Heritage sites in Africa.
The Africa Nature project, a collaborative effort by the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, IUCN and the African World Heritage Fund, with financial support from the Governments of ...

The UNESCO Kathmandu Office has recently created a website on Lumbini, the Birthplace of the Lord Buddha, World Heritage property in Nepal: ‘Lumbini: Past, Present & Future’.
Lumbini, the birthplace of the Lord Buddha, was inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1997 because of its Outstanding Universal Value. The values described are that it is the birthplace of ...

An Action Plan for the Rehabilitation of Cultural Heritage and the Safeguarding of Ancient Manuscripts in Mali was adopted at an international experts’ meeting organized by UNESCO and France at the Organization’s Headquarters on Monday.
The Action Plan for Mali has three priorities: rehabilitate cultural heritage damaged during the conflict with the active ...

On 10 January 2013, UNESCO and the Fondation Franz Weber of Switzerland signed a five-year agreement to reinforce support for the Rapid Response Facility, and to develop a new project for the sustainable preservation of the Dja Faunal Reserve in Cameroon.
The partnership will reinforce the ability of the Rapid Response Facility (RRF) to respond to serious risks to World Heritage sites. ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, together with the Government of France, is organizing an international Day of Solidarity for Mali on 18 February 2013 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France.
This day-long event will begin with an international meeting of experts, charged with developing an action plan for the rehabilitation of Mali’s cultural heritage and the safeguarding of ancient ...

On 7 February, international film stars Clive Owen and Jacques Perrin gave their support to Marine World Heritage: The Crown Jewels of the Ocean, at a special event dedicated to marine site preservation at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. A short film on marine sites, narrated by Mr Perrin, was also shown.
The event presented a 10-year strategy to protect the Crown Jewels of the Ocean, ...

In response to the conflict taking place in the northern regions of Mali since April 2012, UNESCO, in collaboration with the National Directorate of Cultural Heritage in Mali and the International Centre for Earthen Architecture (CRAterre), has produced two publications on the cultural heritage of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal. The first is an illustrated map with detailed texts in two formats ...

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova made a visit to Mali on Saturday 2 February with French President François Hollande and the interim President of Mali Dioncounda Traoré.
The main aim of the visit was to launch the process of reconstruction and safeguarding of the cultural heritage of northern Mali, including the mausoleums of Timbuktu and the city’s fabulous ...

The Director-General is visiting Mali today with French President François Hollande, with the goal to launch the assessment of the state of Mali’s cultural heritage and manuscripts after the recent fighting and tensions and to define a plan of action with the Government of Mali that will guide UNESCO’s support to its reconstruction and safeguarding.
Irina Bokova will be ...

2 February each year is World Wetlands Day. It marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Each year since 1997, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at ...

In January 2013, the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and Turismo de Portugal (the Portuguese Tourism Authority) concluded their joint project on capacity-building for tourism management in World Heritage sites of Portuguese origin and influence. The project culminated in a final event at the School of Tourism in Lisbon, Portugal, where were showcased the project’s publication and case ...

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova today announced that UNESCO will do everything possible to safeguard and rebuild Mali’s extraordinary cultural heritage, which she described as “a vital part of the country’s identity and history and fundamental for its future. Its restoration and reconstruction will give the people of Mali the strength and the confidence to rebuild ...

Are you a youth organization and want to sensitize the young people more about the value of World Heritage sites? Or are you an NGO and wish to organize a work camp to preserve and promote a World Heritage site, with young international volunteers? Here is a way to do so!
The UNESCO World Heritage Education Programme in collaboration with the Coordinating Committee for ...

The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova launched an appeal to all military forces in Mali: "I ask all armed forces to make every effort to protect the cultural heritage of the country, which has already been severely damaged”.
Invoking the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the event of armed conflict and its two Protocols, Irina Bokova sent a ...

Within framework of the World Heritage Earthen Architecture Programme (WHEAP), an international colloquium on the conservation of earthen architecture was organized at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, in partnership with CRAterre-ENSAG, on 17 and 18 December 2012.
This conference, which brought together 240 participants, including experts, professionals and students, was the first international ...